27 JUNE 1896, Page 18

The Archbishop of Canterbury has actually written a letter that

has received cordial praise from the Westminster Gazette. We could hardly have been more surprised if Mr. Labonohere

himself had praised it. It is no doubt a very graceful and beautiful letter to the Cure of Molene,—the Abb6 Le Jeune,4.- expressing "the most earnest and respectful thanks 0 English Church people and,—I venture to say without fear of contradiction,—of all English Christians, for the most tender solicitude with which you and your parishioners have rendered the last offices of piety and religion to those whom the sea has given up from the terrible wreck of the ' Drum- mond Castle.' " " You rightly speak of the consolation vouchsafed to 'the poor families in knowing that they rest. in peace on French soil under the shadow of the Cross.' This consolation they owe to you and your dear people. Charitable acts, so fervently done, draw national hearts- nearer to each other, and make them feel the need of mutual love." And the hearty acknowledgment of such charities does a good deal too; it makes partisan hearts tender towards their opponents, as we see in the cordial recognition of the Archbishop's good taste and good feeling by the Westminster Gazette, which seldom misses an opportunity of assailing the Anglican Episcopate. It was the words "and all other English Christians " which touched the heart and conscience of the Westminster Gazette. But does it seriously think that the English Bishop dreads the Noncon- formist as if he were a spiritual leper P That sort of feeling is no longer present even in the moral atmosphere which surrounds strict ecclesiastics.